In describing the invention different terms are sometimes used for the mobile user equipment being connected to a different network than the user's computer has been configured for. The equipment is typically a laptop computer but can be any similar processing unit or system. It may be referred to throughout this specification as a computer, laptop computer, notebook, notebook computer, personal digital assistant, system, client computer, client, and mobile. Currently, a user is not able to take a computer that has been configured to work on their personal ISP or employer's office LAN/WAN and plug it into another network and expect it to work. In a traditional TCP/IP (Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) environment, a user would typically have to manually re-configure a device such as a notebook computer to gain access to other TCP/IP networks. Current TCP/IP communications protocols in all operating systems, i.e. Unix, Linux, Windows, Mac, etc., have been designed to operate in a preset environment and not to be mobile. Mobile users can currently dial into an ISP with a modem to access the Internet. However, dial-up networking is slower than Ethernet and like networks and can be expensive if the user must dial long distance to access their ISP. Furthermore, dial-up networking can tie up telephone lines and PBX resources which may be undesirable in an environment such as a hotel. Presently there is no simple and effective way to authorize and control access to a network by mobile users other than manually. There is also no ability currently to collect and maintain information for billing for the services used by the mobile user.